Precious Little Life
by Arcana Force XIII 'Thanatos
Summary: Starting life at a new school is never easy, but this is just ridiculous. With no partner and no friends to rely on, Sanmaru is thrown into the case of Digital Academy. But something dark is lurking in the shadows, ready to tear the school apart...
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Adventure in a New World! Sanmaru arrives.

The suitcase hit the bed with a dull thump noise, and its owner soon followed. His brown hair flew about as he dropped. He landed face first on the thick, red comforter and buried his tan face into it. There wasn't another feeling quite like this one. The feeling of loneliness, mixed with a cup of anxiousness, and swirled together with a pinch of homesickness.

When you go to a new school, things always seem like they'll be great. But then you get there, and the soul-crushing feeling of being an outsider sinks in. Everyone at the school already has friends. Whether its just a small group, a click, or even a large club or sports team. Everyone has at least one friend, except you. You weren't there growing up with everyone else. You weren't there for the younger grades. All of your friends are miles away, enjoying their own school.

But this feeling was worse. Because he just hadn't moved away. He hadn't hopped into a car or on a train and drove to a new state or province. He hadn't even got on a plane and flown to another country. He had moved to a boarding school in a different dimension! The idea was simply ludicrous. He had never set foot in the digital world, and now suddenly he was going to be living there!

It had started a few weeks ago. Summer was almost over, and he had been dreading the return of school. It wasn't that he hated school really, it was just that summer vacation was so much better! He had returned home from his friend's house just in time for dinner. To his surprise they had a guest over, and he wasn't human. He was a large orange lizard, about waist high compared to the teen. He wore a white lab coat that trailed behind him, with the sleeves folded up to reveal three white claws on his orange arms. He had a long, wide snout with a row of sharp teeth, and on his head was a black graduation cap. His eyes were a clear emerald green color.

"Sanmaru is that you?" his mother had asked, poking her head out of the living room when Sanmaru got home. He gave her a smile and a wave in greeting, but quickly moved closer when she bid him so. His mother was quite beautiful, with porcelain skin and bright blue eyes. Her black hair was cut short; just above her shoulders and at the time she was wearing a nice blue blouse and matching skirt. As always she had her glasses on, not quite thick or large enough to count as "nerd" glasses but large enough to be a defining trait. "You have a guest." She explained as he walked closer. "A teacher."

Sanmaru frowned and faltered for a moment. What on earth would a teacher want with him? School wasn't in session, obviously, so what on earth would a teacher need? If it was something really important than surely the principle himself would have come, but instead it was just a teacher. But since when did teacher's make house calls anyway? Could this have something to do with his grades? No, that was impossible. He had passed all of his classes easily. The lowest grade he got was a C in Geometry and in all fairness, it was math! He had never been very good with numbers, and a C was certainly a passing grade.

But what if something had gone wrong? Perhaps he bombed his final exam and he had to take the class over again? The very thought of that made him pale with fright. Being held back was…well bluntly put, that was something that happened to idiots! Sanmaru was no genius, but he certainly wasn't dumb enough to get held back. Right? Sanmaru was pulled out of his panic-ridden delusions as his mother snapped her fingers. She didn't look at all worried, so surely everything must be okay. He pushed the queasy feeling of apprehension aside, deciding that he would know what was going on as soon as he walked into his living room.

It was a large cozy room with a large, squishy sofa facing the large television. The large screen rested a top a black table with two shelves under it. The cable box was positioned on the middle rack, and a PS3 was under that. Pictures adorned the corners of the table, and there was a small stack of video game cases. Against the wall opposite of the doorway was a large fish tank with many different colorful fish swimming lazily around, oblivious to the butterflies flitting about Sanmaru's gut. Beside the television was the door leading into the dining room which would then lead into their large kitchen. Delightfully sweet scents would often waft out, the product of the cakes, pies, cookies, breads, and all other manor of confectionary treats baking in the oven. Positioned between the sofa and the fish tank, nestled in the corner was a large arm chair. It was leather like the sofa and sitting within it was the orange Agumon Hakase.

"Good evening Sanmaru." The orange dinosaur said, an inexplicable British accent accompanying his words. "My name is Agumon Hakase. Your mother and I were just talking about you as luck would have it."

"Y-you were?" Sanmaru stammered. This wasn't anywhere close to what he had been thinking about. Agumon was definitely not a teacher from his school. He didn't even know that digimon could _be _teachers, though the more Sanmaru thought about it the more sense it made. Why wouldn't a digimon be allowed to teach? From what he had seen, digimon were just as smart as humans and often times smarter. "I mean, it's nice to meet you sir." Sanmaru corrected with a polite bow.

"Likewise." The scholarly reptile answered, tipping his graduation cap.

"I've asked Agumon to stay for dinner, so would you please set an extra place at the table?" Sanmaru's mother asked politely. Sanmaru nodded and went to the kitchen where he pulled out the appropriate dishes from the cupboards. He quickly set the table while his father finished dinner.

"So if I may ask, why are you here?" Sanmaru wondered.

"I have come with a proposition Sanmaru." Agumon Hakase answered before taking a sip of his juice. Dinner was set out and the rest of Sanmaru's family was at the table. To Sanmaru's right was a smaller boy, just a few days over ten years old. He had his mother's black hair and calm blue eyes. He wore a simply black shirt and jeans, and a silver watch on his right wrist. It was a birthday present from their grandfather. He was clearly interested in Agumon Hakase, often staring at him for a few minutes before realizing how rude that was and quickly looking away. But it wasn't long before his eyes would wonder back up to the speaking dinosaur, both orbs twinkling with wonder.

On the other hand, Sanmaru had clearly taken after his father. The man was a taller, slightly more muscular and defined version of his son. They were told all the time how they looked so alike, and when looking at the pictures they were both in Sanmaru had to agree. His father wasn't too strong or chiseled, but he had a thin build that came about from working out a lot in order to balance out the cravings of his sweet tooth.

"Tell me, have any of you heard about the Digital Academy?" Agumon Hakase asked aloud. Sanmaru and Riku, his younger brother both shook their heads. His father had that look on his face, his brow furrowed thoughtfully and a distant look in his eyes that said he knew something about the Academy but couldn't quite place it.

"I've heard of it." His mother mused thoughtfully. "It's a school in the Digital World."

"Correct." Agumon chimed. "Though the explanation barely scratches the surface. The Digital Academy is a large boarding school made within the digital world in order to promote peace between humans and digimon after our…messy beginning. The idea is for an equal amount of human teens and digimon to go to the Academy. There they will partner up and forge a powerful bond of friendship. These bonds will be the framework for the future of both worlds. By learning to work together at such a young age and by making so many friends of the other species, both sides will learn how to befriend each other. Some of the students were already partners before attending, but others like your son are not."

"Hold on a moment." Sanmaru interrupted, putting is hand up. He disliked interrupting people, but he could already tell that Agumon Hakase was the type to ramble. If he didn't put his point in then, he would probably miss his chance altogether. "Why am I supposed to go then? Like you said, I don't have a partner and I only know a handful of digimon in the first place. Its not that I have a problem with digimon or anything, but picking someone like me to go to a school with such an ulterior motive doesn't seem like a very good idea."

"Quite honestly I agree." Agumon Hakase agreed, crossing his arms and nodding in agreement. The tassel on his cap shook in time with his movement. "You raise an excellent point, no doubt about it. But the fact is, I wasn't the one to pick you. It was my boss, Boss. He is the one who founded the school in the first place, and half of the student body is there on his request. When he finds someone that he believes will make an excellent student he sends a teacher like me there to scope you out. Nobody knows why he picks the students he does. Sometimes they make perfect sense, but other times I really wonder what he's thinking."

"I see." Sanmaru muttered. "Well I really appreciate you coming all the way here but I'm not interested in going. I'm content with where I am."

"But…I didn't even get to talk about all of our wonderful classes, activities, school functions, sports, areas, or anything else." Agumon Hakase protested, obviously put out by the boy's swift decision.

"He's right." His father put in. "At least hear him out Sanmaru. It all sounds pretty exciting to me." He added with a grin.

"Can I go?" Riku asked, the only thing the shy boy had said all evening. He was a naturally shy boy, but the teaching digimon's visit only compounded the problem. He had been quiet all night, opting out to only stare at the digimon in awe.

"Sorry but no." Agumon Hakase answered apologetically. "Only students 15 years of age or older may attend. You stay there for three years, coming back home to visit during the winter and summer of course. It's a shame you can't though, because the classes are truly amazing. The school has been open for six years, and almost everyone in those graduating classes has gone on to prestigious colleges. Though we've only been open for a short while, we've already made quite a name for ourselves. Attending the Digital Academy is an excellent academic opportunity. Our teachers are all geniuses form both worlds that excel at their subject of choice. Furthermore, we have a multitude of classes so there is sure to be several that appeal to you. And we have several different clubs to take a part in."

'Either this guy loves hearing himself talk or he has his heart set on getting me to attend.' Sanmaru thought as the scholarly dinosaur continued talking. 'Could the school really be that good? If it can help me get into the school I want, and if there really is that much to take part in then logically speaking there's no reason not to go. But I've never really been away from my family for so long, and I wouldn't know anybody there…' Sanmaru looked over at his mother who had a smile on her face. His gaze switched to his father, who gave him a subtle nod.

'They want me to go.' Sanmaru realized. 'They must realize what an opportunity this is for me. But can I really do it? Leave my friends and family behind?' In that moment something went off in Sanmaru. A certain chord was plucked, a key pressed, a note played. He wanted this. He wanted to go to Digital Academy. He wanted to face the challenges of a new school, and to meet knew people. He wanted to know more about the digimon, and to help others learn about it.

"I'll do it!" he chimed, cutting off Agumon Hakase.

"Fantastic!" the dinosaur cheered.

No, in hindsight it was definitely not fantastic. What was he thinking! That feeling that had suddenly gripped him had come out of nowhere. It was as if he wasn't in control of his body when he said it! Ignoring the loneliness, and the apprehension, this was the first time he had been away from his family. He missed Mom and Dad and his little brother. Tears came to his eyes as he buried his face in the sheets of the bed. He didn't even have a partner like all of the other kids. He was alone here. It wasn't just a new school, it was a new world.

Sanmaru was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard the door open. He discretely wiped his tears off on his comforter and looked up. The room was pretty large for a dorm room, or at least he thought so. He had never really seen one before. There were two bunk beds, each one against a separate wall. Presumably the second bed would be for one's digimon partner, but that didn't really apply to Sanmaru. The carpet was a boring tan color, and the walls were a dull white. The sheets, comforter, and pillow cases were all red and the skeleton of the bunk bed was made out of smooth wood. There was a large desk evenly positioned between the two bunks, with a small lamp on it. The door was dark wood with a golden colored handle.

Standing in the doorway was a small boy with black hair. He looked a lot younger than Sanmaru, maybe around twelve or thirteen. He pair of glasses framed his green eyes, and he was wearing a black shirt and a simple pair of jeans. He had worn out looking black shoes, and he was trailing a black rolling suitcase behind him. Balanced on top of the suitcase was a tall, dome-like bird cage, and within it was a large blue parrot. It had grey plumage around its neck, and red tail feathers. It's talons and beak were light grey, and the eyes were pure black.

The boy smiled sweetly at Sanmaru as he wheeled his stuff over. "You must be my roommate." he guessed as he parked his bag in front of the other bunk. He looked Sanmaru over, an unidentifiable look in his eyes. It vanished and was replaced by an innocent, happy spark as he offered his hand. "My name it Masato." he greeted. "I guess we'll be roommates this year."

"I'm Sanmaru." He took the boy's smaller hand and they shook. His hand felt so frail and weak, it was amazing he had been able to pull around the suitcase and birdcage. "Do you need some help with your stuff?" he asked warmly. Maybe things were different here, and he didn't have any friends. But at the very least he could try befriending his roommate. The smaller boy nodded, so Sanmaru took the birdcage and placed it on the desk.

"Watch it!" the bird snapped angrily, spreading his wings out. Sanmaru cried out in shock, dropping the cage on the desk. The cage shook violently and very nearly tipped over, but the bird managed to balance it by leaning against one of the walls. He looked up at Sanmaru, glaring at him with his large black eyes. "You moron! Do you have any idea how expensive my cage is! If you break it, or me, you're paying for the damages!"

Sanmaru was stunned into silence by the talking bird. He had looked so normal before, but then he suddenly started yelling at him! "You…talk." Sanmaru muttered, unable to say anything else. The parrot brought a wing up to his face and let out a sigh. "Oh goodie, our roommate is a total moron."

"Stop Blue, that's rude." Masato said, running over to the parrot. He turned to Sanmaru and bowed deeply. "I'm sorry Sanmaru, I should have introduced you. This is BluePiyomon, he's my partner. His bark is worse then his bite. No matter what he says, he's yet to figure out how to unlock his cage."

Blue's mouth dropped open in horror as he turned to Masato. "You swore you wouldn't tell anyone!" he cried, spreading his wings out and stamping one of his talons in anger. "You little brat!" he roared.

Masato looked down apologetically. "I'm sorry Blue, it just slipped out! Please don't be angry at me, please! I won't tell anyone else I promise!"

"Whatever." Blue grunted, folding his wings in and letting out a huff. "So where's your partner, moron?"

Sanmaru blinked when he realized he was the moron BluePiyomon was referring to. "I don't actually have one." Sanmaru answered. For some reason saying this felt like he was admitting to some crime. He felt like a little kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar. BluPiyomon's sudden laughter certainly didn't help to alleviate these feelings, but Masato gave him a reassuring smile.

"You'll find one." he said gently. "Not all of the digimon have a human partner either. All you have to do is find one of them and partner up." He turned to the cackling bird and hit the cage just enough to shake it. BluePiyomon stopped laughing and glared at the boy angrily but said nothing.

"Thanks." Sanmaru replied, a little confused by the odd duo. He certainly didn't want a partner like BluePiyomon. He was a jerk by the looks of it, but Masato was pretty nice so rooming with him wouldn't be too bad. He helped Masato get his suitcase onto his bed and then turned to his own. There was a set of drawers positioned under the bottom beds, and there was a wardrobe in one of the corners of the room. The boys went about putting their stuff away, folding and hanging up their clothes. The Academy had uniforms, but the students were permitted to wear what they wanted on the weekends. While rooting around in his suitcase Sanmaru felt something odd. He pulled out the brown package and set it on his bed. It seemed to have been wrapped in a hurry, as it was half covered in tape and the brown paper was very wrinkled and torn a bit in places.

It took Sanmaru a few tries but he managed to tear through the outer shell of paper and tap. A small circular tin was inside. He pulled off the lid, revealing several chocolate chip cookies and a latter on top. He picked it up and read the front of it. "From Mom and Dad." it said. Sanmaru slowly opened it up and pulled the small piece of paper out.

"Sanmaru, if you're father hid this well enough then you'll be reading this in your new room at the Academy. I know things may seem scary now, what with being in a different school in a different world but you don't need to worry. You're a great kid, and we all know you'll do really well. Get good grades, meet new friends, and kick a lot of ass. Love Mom, Dad, and Riku."

Sanmaru smiled as he put the letter back in the envelope. He lifted the mattress up and tucked it under it. He sat down on his bed, looking at the perfectly arranged cookies in the tin. His father was a baker, and his chocolate chip cookies were delicious. He smiled as he bit into one, suddenly feeling his spirits soar. He wasn't as alone as he thought. His family and friends back home were all wishing him luck and thinking about him. He'd be back for the summer, so for now it'd be best to enjoy his time here.

"Hey Masato." he said, the smaller boy looking over at him. "Want a cookie?"

"Sure!" Masato chirped happily, taking the cookie and biting it. His eye slit up with delight a she ate.

"Hey!" Blue cried angrily. "Hey, I want one too!"

Sanmaru rolled his eyes and rolled a cookie through one of the bars in the cage. BluePiyomon used his wings to steady the cookie and began biting into it ravenously. "Oh yeah~! That's the stuff~!" he cried happily. "Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate~!" Sanmaru and Masato laughed as they watched the bird go to town on his cookie.

The rest of the day went pretty well. They had arrived at the school pretty late, so the boys pretty much stayed in their room for the rest of the night. Once it grew dark out, Sanmaru was amazed to see through moons in the sky, one yellow, one red, and one green. That was the moment when the full weight of his situation dawned on him. He was in a new world. He wasn't just miles away from his family, he was a whole dimension apart. And yet, he felt excited. He wasn't worried anymore, or anxious. True he still felt a little homesick, but that was to be expected. Tomorrow he would be a student at Digital Academy.

And he couldn't wait!

_

Sanmaru's fighting spirit was diminished slightly when his alarm went off. It let out a shrill buzzing noise that pierced Sanmaru's eardrums like two ice picks. He lazily struck the top of the rectangular blight upon humanity, silencing the infernal machine. "Whoever invented the alarm clock should be shot."

"I think he's already dead." Masato blearily answered as he got out of bed. He glanced at the alarm clock with a grimace before looking to BluePiyomon. The bird's feathers were a little ruffled and an infuriated look filled his eye. He let out an irritated squawk, the two humans flinching at the horrid noise.

"Then we should dig him up, shoot him anyway, and burry him again." Sanmaru grunted as he got out of bed. He stretched and let out a loud yawn before rubbing his eyes.

"I agree with the moron." BluePiyomon grumbled irritably. He lifted a wing up and began preening his feathers with his curved beak. He let out another squawk when Sanmaru hit the cage, making it rattle loudly. The pissed off bird spread out his wings and roared, "Watch you ass! If you damage this cage I'll claw out your eyes!"

"Bite me." Sanmaru snapped. He normally wasn't so prone to outbursts, but he was in no way a morning person. If it was up to him the whole world would wake up around noon and they'd all go to bed some time in the early AM. But instead he was forced to deal with bright sunlight that stung his eyes and an insufferable groggy feeling that would persist until at least after his first class. His muscles ached from stiffness and his vision was irritatingly blurring.

Sanmaru was pulled out of his angry mental ranting when he heard the ruckus going on outside his door. He opened the door and poked his sleepy head out. There he saw several other teens around his age, and several monsters all getting ready for the day. Sanmaru withdrew his head and shut the door.

"It's insane out there." he warned Masato with a yawn.

"That's why I took a shower last night. To minimize my time dealing with that." Masato answered, pointing at the door. "I tried telling you, but you said you wanted to sleep." he added apologetically.

"Whatever." Sanmaru grunted. He checked the clock and reasoned that he had about forty minutes before his first class. He opened the door and headed into the mass of moving students. He quickly realized that shuffling along would only get him pushed around. So he crossed his arms and began wading through the crowd like a football player rushing towards the goal. He managed to arrive at the bathroom intact and walked in. He grabbed one of the towels and moved to a shower stall. Even with the thick walls separating him from view he still felt a little self conscious as he showered. He quickly cleaned himself, dried off, wrapped the towel around his waist, and rushed back to his room.

There, Masato had finished getting dressed. The school uniform was like a business suit. A nice, white button up shirt, a green blazer over it, matching slacks, and nice black shoes. The red tie was optional, but Masato had apparently decided it was necessary as he had it around his neck. "Do I look good?" he asked as Sanmaru walked in.

"Yeah." Sanmaru grunted. "Very professional."

"Told ya." BluePiyomon grunted. "But no, apparently everything I say has to be sarcastic even when its not."

"Well generally it is." Masato answered as he slung his bag over his shoulder and grabbed the bird cage. "See you after class Sanmaru." he said before leaving out the door. Sanmaru began getting dressed. In the end he decided to leave the top button of his shirt undone, as it was far too tight with it locked into place. His jacket was left unbuttoned as well, and in all honesty he couldn't figure out how to tie his tie so he left that off as well. He gathered the books he would need in his bag and then left the room. He looked it behind him and pocketed his room key.

He moved down the two flights of stairs and arrived a the ground floor. He checked his watch, he had fifteen minutes left. The boy's dorm was close to the main building where he needed to be, so it wouldn't take long getting their. He poked his head into the kitchen, seeing if there was anything to eat. There were three students within, and a lot of smoke billowing up from the pan on the stove.

"Oops." the one in front of the oven muttered. He was definitely a digimon, but a very humanoid one. His skin was a reddish tan color, and he had a wild mane of orange hair. He lacked a shirt, but had two red armor pieces on his shoulders. There was a white tattoo on his chest, and he wore red pants held up by a black belt with a white belt buckle. His nails were red, and he had armored red gloves on his hands. The part that really set him part from being a human was the orange tail coming from his pants, the fur shaped almost like a fire. His ears were elf-like, with a single gold earring in each.

Behind him was a tall male student with blonde hair and green eyes. He wore the school uniform in its entirety. Beside him was a large grey rabbit with sharp black claws, a white belly and stomach, and a long tail. He stood up on his hind legs and came up to the boy's waist, not counting his large ears which reached his partner's chest. His eyes were red, and his sharp teeth were shown in his sneer.

"Just give up already." the blonde yawned, lounging in one of the dining room chairs. "If we get anymore smoke in here it might set off the sprinklers. Just get to class already."

"But I can cook! I can, I swear! Its just that these stupid ingredients urn so easily!" the digimon insisted. The rabbit let out a loud, hissing laugh. The digimon turned and glared at him angrily before taking the pan from the stove and moving to the garbage can. He used the spatula to scrape off something black and lumpy looking into the can. He ditched the pan in the sink before walking off in a huff.

"What did he try making?" Sanmaru wondered as he looked into the trash can. Whatever it was looked hard, charred, and crunchy.

The rabbit let out his hissing laugh again as the blond answered. "Scrambled eggs."

Sanmaru looked to the boy before looking back to the garbage can. He shook his head in disbelief before moving to the large refrigerator. He opened it up and took out a large, shiny red apple. That would be enough until lunch. He closed the door and moved out of the dormitory.

The school was massive, five stories high and who knows how wide. Sanmaru walked in and immediately felt out of place. It was a giant labyrinth of twisting hallways and classrooms. Sanmaru pulled out his schedule from his pocket and scanned it. His first class was in room 231. So, using one of the foldable school maps, Sanmaru found a staircase and moved to the second floor. He moved down the hallways, checking the door numbers as he went.

Sanmaru suddenly went tumbling to the ground. He landed with a thud, his map, schedule, and bag spilling out everywhere. "I'm sorry!" he cried, mentally scolding himself for his idiocy. He hadn't been paying attention to where he was going at all, so of course he was going to end up running into someone.

"No, its my fault. I'm sorry." the girl he had tackled into apologized. They both gathered their things and stood up. He watched the girl as she stood up. She was a mousy girl, with large glasses and short light brown hair. She wore the female uniform, a white button up shirt, a plaid skirt, and knee high black socks and black shoes. She gave him a once over as well and smiled. "Sorry about that. I was in a rush to get to class, but I'm sure you understand since we're both late."

"What!" Sanamru cried. "I'm not late! It's still only," Sanmaru checked his watch and cursed under his breath. "8:05. Which means I'm totally late."

"Welcome to the club buddy." the girl chuckled. "I'm Alexis by the way."

"Sanmaru." he replied. "Any idea where room 231 is?"

"Right next to us." Alexis answered, nodding to the door. She opened the door and let Sanmaru in, and quickly followed behind him.

Agumon Hakase was sitting on a stool in front of a large chalkboard. He looked up as he say the pair enter the room. "Oh good, we're all hear then." he muttered as he pushed off the wall, the stool zooming towards the desk. He typed something into the computer on his desk and then looked to the tardy duo. "Well take your seats already! it's the first day, I'll pardon you this time. But only this time."

"Thank you sir." Sanmaru said with a grateful bow. He and Alexis both made their way to the middle of the classroom where they found to empty seats next to each other. They both took their notebooks and textbooks out as the professor continued.

"As I was saying, good morning class and welcome to the Digital Academy. For you new students, I am Agumon Hakase. I'm your homeroom teacher and, by extension, your first teacher of the day. I'll be teaching you all the basics. The differences between humans a digimon. The types of digimon, and the various areas. I'll be teaching you about the human world and human technology. It's a class meant to foster teamwork. Half of you already know half of the course, and vice versa. This class is meant to foster teamwork. You'll both help each other to understand the culture of the other world. Now I'll be passing out the course syllabus for you to look over. It has all of the dates you need to know."

"Wow." Sanmaru muttered. "This is so boring."

"I know, its like school back home." Alexis agreed. "Besides, I don't even have a partner to get help from."

"Welcome to the club buddy." Sanmaru echoed, a smirk on his face. "I'm sure it won't be that bad though. I mean, at worst it'll be like a history class back home. Except it will be stuff that's actually interesting to learn about. You know I heard there's a place in this world entirely made out of ice cream."

"No way." Alexis said, waving her hand.

"First we'll outline the basics of digimon." Agumon began, producing a long pointer with a blue rob on the end. "At our core, digimon are made up of data in much the same way a human is made up of individual cells. There are many parallels between a human's and a digimon's anatomy, both on a cellular level and on a macro level. However, we grow in very different ways. Humans gradually grow from an infant, to an adolescent, to an adult, to and elder, and then die. Digimon on the other hand, take on different forms during their life. We begin as Baby level digimon, and evolve to a Baby II level which would be the equivalent of a human toddler. Its in this form where our physical appearance begins to take shape, such as legs, wings, flippers, and so on."

"Past this is the Child form, which is similar to a human's adolescence. We finally have our own personal abilities, and our physical appearance has become much more defined. From here our evolution into Adulthood is determined by several factors. Our environment, our personality, our role in nature, and if we have one our human partner. The Adult form is generally larger than the Child and usually the last one a digimon reaches. We spend most of our lives in this form, with enough power to get by and make lives for ourselves. However, there exists several forms beyond that. But for now that is enough on the forms, as going past the Adult form can get rather complicated due to the many different power, ability, and appearance changes that we can go through. It is also possible for a digimon to remain in their child form throughout their life. This occurs when the digimon ahs no need to evolve further, as their current form is perfectly suited to living in their environment."

Agumon continued his lecture while Sanmaru wrote the notes down. However, he soon lost interest in the notes and began to doodle in his notebook. His thoughts remained on the digimon though, as he wondered what his partner would be like. 'What am I supposed to do?' he thought to himself. 'Just find a lone diigmon and ask him or her to be my partner. Seems a little rude though. Besides, what if he or she ends up being a jerk like BluePiyomon? I could sit back and watch for a while, but that seems a little stalkerish.'

"Sanmaru!" Agumon snapped, pointing his wand at the boy. Sanmaru's head snapped up, his face red.

"Y-yes?" he asked worriedly.

"Name the three attributes that a digimon can fall under!"

"Uuuuuuuh…"

"Incorrect." Agumon sighed. "Really now, it's the first day and you're already daydreaming? The answer is Vaccine, Data, and Virus. Some digimon are dubbed Variable because of their type varies between digimon, and in some cases a digimon is Unidentified because their type is unknown."

Sanmaru shyly went back to his notes, Alexis' chuckle ringing in his ears. The rest of class went off without a problem, and Sanmaru was sure to stay on task. When the bell rang he walked out of the room with Alexis who laughed at him again. "The first day and you've already got a teacher after you."

"Shut up." Sanmaru grumbled. "What class do you have next anyway?"

"Biology." Alexis answered, looking over her schedule. "You?"

Sanmaru dipped into his pocket and pulled out his schedule. He unfolded it carefully and read down the list of classes. His face paled as he read the words, mouthing them aloud. "I don't get it." He muttered, his brow furrowed. "What is this supposed to mean? Combat training! Do they expect me to go to war or something?"

"Oh yeah, I heard about that class." Sanmaru's new brunette friend said. "I don't think the humans do much of the combat though."

"Well what do we do then? I don't even have a partner!" Sanmaru asked, truly hoping that Alexis would have an answer for him. But she didn't, and after checking her watch she bid him farewell as she moved off for her biology class. Sanmaru was left to his own devices, the unfolded schedule still in his hands.

Sanmaru really had no idea what to expect. The idea of a "Combat Training" class worried him beyond words. What did they expect him to fight? Another digimon? If that was the case then Sanmaru would flat out refuse. The smallest of them had the power to breathe fire or freeze stuff or…blow something up by glaring at it or something! No way in hell would Sanmaru fight against a digimon. The idea was ludicrously suicidal.

So perhaps it was a self defense class? It wasn't geared towards actually fighting a digimon, but just surviving against them? It would make sense. From what he had seen the main idea of this stuff was cowering behind your partner while they fought. Except there was the minor problem in that he lacked a partner!

Even furthering his confusion was the room he was supposed to report to. Under the column labeled Room, sandwiched right between Class Name and Time, was SIM. What on earth was that supposed to mean! You'd expect combat training, even combat training against inter-dimensional monsters, to be held in the gymnasium or something similar. But no, all it said was SIM.

Sanmaru pulled out his folded up copy of the school's map and looked at it. The SIM room was actually a separate building altogether, located to the northeast of the main building and north above the girls' dorm. Sanmaru stopped walking so as to avoid another "crashing hello" scenario and checked the map for the closest exit. He folded the map up, put it back in his pocket, and made his way out of the building.

He walked out into the cool morning air and checked his watch. He still had a few minutes to get to where he needed to go, so he took his time as he walked to the building. He noticed other students walking there as well. Some looked to be his age, some looked older, and there were several digimon. Dogs, cats, insects, dragons, gremlins, goblins, one of them looked like a living candle and some of them couldn't be so easily categorized. There was what looked like a bear made out of grey rocks, and a strange cross between a flower and a lizard.

Some of them were small, like the orange colored pig-looking thing that flew around using its ears. A lot of them were waist high like Agumon Hakase, but there were a handful that were even larger. One looked like a yellow teddy bear, about as tall as a human adult. There were machines too, like a floating black gear with a gold rim. And there were a few that looked almost human. One of them even looked like a little kid, maybe around ten or eleven. He'd pass as human, if not for his ten white angel wings.

Some of the digimon were the same species, varying only by width or height. Others looked exactly alike but had wildly different colors. For instance, Sanmaru noticed another flying pig but that one was dark blue instead of orange. Most of the digimon walked or floated or flew next to a human. Some of the smaller ones were in their arms or on their shoulders or heads. Only a handful of humans and digimon were without partners. But that was slowly changing.

Sanmaru watched as a humanoid dog ran towards the SIM building. He was mostly a periwinkle color, but his stomach was off white. He had white jeans on with armor on his shins and feet. Tight black gloves covered what looked like sharp claws, and he had a black bandana tide around his neck. He was carrying about four books in his thing arms when he took a stumble. He fell to the ground with a thud, his books spilling out everywhere.

Sanmaru walked over to help him when he saw a closer girl moving towards the downed dog. She was pretty cute, with fair skin and long blonde hair. Her eyes were clear blue, and her sleeves were shorter than most of the other student's. She helped the dog to stand up, who looked extremely embarrassed. She said something Sanmaru couldn't quite hear and helped the dog pick his books up. They both walked on towards the SIM building, talking happily and Sanmaru had the odd sensation that he had just seen a partnership form.

It had been simple and innocent. Neither of them seemed to be actively trying to make it happened; destiny just sort of shoved them together as if by accident. It was just like any other friendship really. You couldn't force it to happen, it would happen on its own. Sanmaru felt oddly reassured after watching those two, suddenly feeling that it was just a matter of time before he found his own digimon partner.

"I am Averia." The stern woman said. She was tall, roughly twenty five with straight dark pink hair and green eyes. She wore a closed black jacket, golden buttons lining the front of it and a pair of tight black shorts that reached her knees. She wore black boots and had an undeniable air of authority surrounding her.

Sanmaru was inside a large room with the glass doors to the outside world behind him. The floor was marble tile, and the walls were a dull white. Erika was standing atop some sort of stage with a podium in front of her. Behind her were about eight doors painted red. All of the students that had been moving towards the SIM building were in this room. Most of the first year students were at the front, with the second year students behind them and the third ones in the back.

"I am not your friend." Erika continued. "I am not your teacher. I am not someone you confide in. I am your commander. Your leader. I will not hold your hand while you stumble forward blindly. I will not coddle you and reassure you when you fail. I will push you forward with everything I have. You'll try to stop, you'll turn your frustration to me, but I warn you now that those complaints will fall on deaf ears. You don't know your limits because you've never been pushed hard enough to reach them. That is what we'll be doing here today and for the rest of the year."

"You will all be given one of these slips of paper." She explained, holding up a rectangular piece of paper with a room number written on it. "After that, proceed through one of the doors behind me and find your matching room. Then wait there for further instructions."

Several digimon moved out form the doors, all of them holding a stack of papers. They were bizarre, even by digimon standards. Their bodies looked to be made out of black rubber, forming into vaguely humanoid shapes. They had metal gas masks for faces, with a metal tube on each cheek coiling under their arms and into a large metal pack on their backs. Its finger tips were made of metal, and twirling behind them was a long, surprisingly prehensile tail. The digimon gave Sanmaru an eerie feeling, like they weren't quite like the others. The way they moved seemed mechanical, almost automatic.

When one of the strange rubber digimon walked up to him it brought out a paper slip. "Hey." Sanmaru greeted, hoping for some kind of answer. But the strange digimon remained completely silent and as still as a stone. Sanmaru slowly took the paper, trying not to touch the bizarre creature. The digimon walked off to deliver more. Those were the kinds of digimon that freaked him out. The others were strange, but deep down they were just like him. But those, Troopmon as he would later discover was their name, were unnatural.

An ear splitting shriek filled the compound. Sanmaru looked to his right, seeing the blonde girl from earlier. One of the rubber monsters had grabbed her arm and, despite the wolf digimon's efforts, refused to let go. The metal finger tips began to dig into her skin, beads of red blood forming. Despite being made of rubber the monster's arm was like a vice, digging into the girl's arm without remorse. The other rubber digimon had stopped moving, not attacking anyone or helping the girl. They were simply frozen in place, some having fallen over when they were frozen mid-step, and others with their arms still outstretched.

The whole situation was profoundly creepy, and everything had fallen silent except for the girl's screams. Everyone seemed to regain their senses at once and rushed to help the girl, but they were blown away by a powerful wind. A red spear tore through the rubber monstrosity, a luminescent green liquid spilling out on the floor. The hand went completely limp, like normal rubber, and fell to the ground with a small splash.

Sanmaru was frozen in place, his eyes wide with terror. The massive red lance belonged to a tall knight in black armor. A massive black axe blade was seen over his left shoulder, and a swirling black cape billowed in a nonexistent wind. His chest plate was pure silver, shaped like a skull with blood red lights on the chest with a golden mantle holding the cape in place. A feeling of dread gripped Sanmaru's heart as the knight put his empty hand on the girl's shoulder.

"Are you alright?" he asked, his voice echoing in his helmet slightly. The girl broke down, tears falling from her eyes as she collapsed into the knight's arm. Averia appeared by the knight's side, her eyes fixed on the green puddle. She glared at the puddle and rubber suit intensely before turning to the injured girl.

"Quiet!" she snapped. "It's a flesh wound, you'll live!"

"Hey now." The knight said soothingly. "Averia there's no need for such harsh language. I'll take the young girl here to get bandaged up. You call the headmistress and tell her what happened. It looks like the other Troopmon are all back to normal now, so its best to just get this reported and the children on their way."

Averia was silent for a moment, a blank look on her face. "Every well." She admitted, turning and pulling out an onyx black cell phone. As she talked she motioned for some of the other Troopmon to get closer. They formed a perimeter around the fallen Troopmon, keeping the other students away from the glowing, spilled mess. Averia walked off, while the tall knight looked around.

"I apologize for the inconvenience everyone but please go about what you were doing before." He said politely before taking the girl and her dog partner out of the SIM building. Sanmaru watched him go, thoroughly confused. The first time he had seen him, the knight had filled him with horror. But in reality he seemed so kind and gentle. Especially compared to Averia.

Sanmaru shook the feeling off and headed for the doors. That was all very strange but really it didn't concern him. There was no point dwelling on the past, it was time to see just what "combat training" and "SIM" meant exactly. The wide dispersal of doors helped to prevent bottlenecking, but even so it took a few minutes to get through the door. He checked his paper, D17, and began looking for the right door. The whole set up was simple, like a large grid. There were large, square rooms with metal doors. The halls intersected like the vertical and horizontal lines on a graph. Sanmaru felt overwhelmed by the sheer number of doors and rooms, and this feeling was expanded when he realized his room was actually on the second floor. The second floor was exactly like the first, the only difference being the numbers above the doors and the staircases leading up and down.

Sanmaru finally found the room he needed and walked inside. Five people were already inside, one of which was the digimon from his dorm who had failed at cooking. The other was a girl with shoulder length red hair and beautiful blue eyes. She was as tall as Sanmaru, but her heeled boots probably helped with that. Standing on her shoulders was a little pink digimon about the size of her head, not counting its odd ears. It looked sort of like a rabbit, with long round ears. It was completely pink, except for its tiny red boots and matching scarf. White ear muffs were around its neck, and its black eyes stared at him with an amused twinkle.

"Hello." The girl greeted, walking over to Sanmaru. They were in a completely metal room with smooth walls. It was all featureless except for the door behind him. She held out a hand clad in a fingerless black glove. "My name is Celena LeBlanc and this is Cutemon." She motioned to the pink rabbit who gave a little "Kyu~!" in greeting. Sanmaru wasn't usually one to faun over cute things, but it took a lot of effort to no rip Cutemon off of Celena and hug it. "We're going to be on the same team this semester so let's all do a good job okay?"

"I'm Atarashii Sanmaru." He answered, taking the girl's hand. LeBlanc sounded familiar. He wasn't sure from where but he did know it was French. The trio was interrupted by Flamon who butted himself in.

"I'm Flamon." He said, putting his hand over theirs'. "I'm a pretty powerful digimon so you guys can just sit back and relax okay? Take a nap or something while the hero gets things done."

"Excuse me?" Celena asked, staring at Flamon skeptically.

'He's pretty boastful. Good to know.' Sanmaru thought dryly to himself, but had the sinking suspicion that saying it aloud would set Flamon off. Instead he looked over to the other inhabitants of the room. The human was another girl, this one with raven black hair. It was pulled out into two massive tails on the side of her head, a frilly black bonnet between then. Silver head phones were around her neck, a wire leading into the pocket of her green blazer. She stared at him with skeptical blue eyes before looking away. She had short black boots and black gloves that ended somewhere in her sleeves.

Standing beside her was one of the more bizarre digimon Sanmaru had seen, though not to the extent of Troopmon. Its center was a large purple ball with a red mechanical eye in the center. It stood on four purple spider legs with a purple abdomen hanging down. From there a mess of tangle wires spilled out, hanging just above the ground. It moved closer to Sanmaru, its mechanical eye focusing on the boy's face. "Greeting flesh-bag, my name is Gizmon." He said, offering a few of his coils like Celena had offered her hand. Sanmaru hesitantly shook the mass of wires, feeling the icy cold metal on his skin. Gizmon moved back to his partner's side who regarded the teen with disinterest.

"This is my human compatriot, Rose." Gizmon added, motioning to the girl with a wire. "She's not as social as the rest of you organics."

"Gizmon." Rose said calmly, cutting off whatever the robot was about to add.

"Sorry Ma'am." Gizmon apologized.

"So am I allowed to ask a stupid question?" Sanmaru wondered aloud. Hopefully these girls and whatever their partners were knew something about this. Flamon didn't exactly seem like the reliable type, at least when compared to Celena. "Where exactly are we?" he wondered.

"The SIM building." Gizmon answered, the tone in his voice making it clear that he viewed Sanmaru as the team idiot.

The teen rolled his eyes and resisted the urge to let loose a sarcastic retort. "I know that but what is the SIM building? Why are we here? What exactly is combat training supposed to be?" He looked to the girls and digimon with a clueless expression. He didn't care if he sounded like an idiot; he just wanted to finally know!

Celena stepped forward, a gentle smile on her face. "You're new here aren't you? I guess we're the only ones that have been here before, huh Cutemon?"

"We're the senpais here, kyu~! How cool~!" Cutemon chirped, obviously happy to have seniority over the others. "This is a place where we learn how to fight as teams, kyu~! Ever since the first digimon and human met they've been forming partnerships. We digimon grow from the emotions of our human, which allows us to get stronger in battle, kyu~!"

The room suddenly dimmed until everything was obscured by the inky black darkness. Celena's voice echoed throughout, continuing their explanation. "This class within the Simulation Building is designed to teach us how to use our bonds. We must work as a team, not just the individual partnerships but the six of us together as a single team."

Sanmaru cried out in shock when the room lit up again. They were in a lush green forest. The sun shone down from above, through the thick canopy of green leaves. The ground was covered by a thick carpet of green grass. It was absolutely breathtaking, but Sanmaru was quickly pulled out of his reverie as a large red stinger embedded itself in the tree beside his head. He looked into the air, seeing a massive bee-like digimon fly down on them. Its wings were a hideous purple color with yellow markings like glaring eyes. Its body was sickly yellow, with several spikes on the end of its limbs that formed claws. It let out a loud shriek as it swept down on them.

Sanmaru dived down, running on adrenaline and panic. He heard a loud explosion above him, feeling the concussive wave of it hit his back. He spun around on the ground and bolted back up to his feet. Flamon had tackled the massive bee to the ground, but the horrific insect easily pushed him off and returned to the air.

"Our goal is to beat it until it runs away or stops moving." Celena explained, terrifyingly calm despite the monster movie reject buzzing above them. "Its not as dangerous as it looks, this is all a hologram. A simulation. But if any of the humans get hit, we loose automatically."

"We won't die?" Sanmaru whimpered. Celena's answer was drowned out as the tremendous wasp shot down at them. Sanmaru was frozen in fear, the monster's stinger aimed right for his chest. He felt something warm and heavy knock into him, sending him toppling to the ground. The horrible hornet missed him, but he was still close enough to feel the wind caused by its buzzing wings.

"Thank you!" Sanmaru cried, hugging Flamon gratefully. Simulation or no, this was easily the most terrifying experience in the young teen's life.

"No problem." Flamon answered, giving a thumb up. "I'm a hero you know. It's my job to save the weak." He helped Sanmaru up before turning back to Flymon. "Alright guys! Simulation or no, I refuse to loose to some honeybee with an over inflated ass. Let's go!"

"I don't recall making you the leader, organ-sack."

"Bite me!" Flamon roared, his fist bursting into flames. He leapt into the air and flipped, sending his fist crashing down on Flymon's head. Flymon let out an irritated shriek, but seemed no worse for ware. Its claw shot out and grabbed Flamon's leg, but was forced to let go as that limb was also set on fire. Flamon let out a triumphant laugh as he used the massive insect's arm as leverage to twist around. He kicked Flymon's face before bringing his fist up and punching him again.

A shrill buzzing noise filled the air as Flymon spun around, becoming a black, yellow, and purple blur. Flamon was knocked off of the spinning insect and sent hurtling to the ground. Gizmon's black wires shot out, grabbing him before he hit the ground too hard. The fire-wielding monster let out a frustrated cry, struggling against the wires. "Let me go!" he roared angrily, struggling against his bonds.

"Are you mad!' Gizmon snapped irritably. "I just saved you from a bone-snapping fall! You should be thanking me for saving your easily broken ass!"

"I didn't ask for your help!" Flamon roared back. "I'm the hero, so I'm the one that does the saving! I can't go and let some purple toaster save! My reputation would be in the toilet!"

Gizmon's, undoubtedly violent and obscene, retort was unheard as Flymon crashed down into the ground like a buzzing drill. Gizmon shrieked as his wires were torn off of Flamon by the ugly bug. Sanmaru was knocked off his feet by the sheer force of the strike, though he hadn't been close enough to even get hit by one of Flymon's wings. Flymon was now stuck in the ground halfway up to its abdomen. It let out a frustrated shriek as it began to push off the ground with its claws.

Flamon leapt above him, his four limbs on fire. He brought his hands up together and smashed them down onto Flymon's head. He roared, grabbing one of Flymon's surprisingly brittle wings and tearing it off. The display made Sanmaru's stomach turn. The comically overconfident digimon was now unleashing hell on the massive bug. A gasp of horror escaped Sanmaru's lips as a claw pinned Flamon to the ground.

"I thought you said we wouldn't get hurt!" Sanmaru cried accusingly. His mind was a blur of emotions. It was mostly fear, but the anger from adrenaline and pity for Flymon was also mixed into the raging torrent of his mind.

"I said we wouldn't die." Celena answered. "Not that we wouldn't get hurt." Sanmaru stared at her in disbelief, unable to contemplate how she was able to be so calm in the situation.

Back in the battle, Gizmon had wrapped his chords around Flaymon's two main limbs. He wrenched the bug off of Flamon, earning another glare from the ungrateful digimon. Gizmon's red eye began to glow, small balls of red energy flowing into it. "Gizmo Laser!" he declared, firing a thin red beam form the eye. The beam pierced Flymon's chest, sending the bug into a rage. It shrieked, pulling its claws back, sending Gizmon flying towards him. Using one of its lower claws, Flymon pinned Gizmon to the ground.

Sanmaru turned to Celena and Cutemon, his fists clenched so tightly his knuckles were white. "Why aren't you doing anything!" he roared. "Help them!" He didn't want this. He wasn't prepared for something like this. The horror of watching the battle, feeling the mind-numbing terror in his heart. Celena was wrong, Flymon _could_ kill them. The only thing left to do was run, but the moment after he realized this he came to the other realization that it was too late. Flymon's front claw was aimed right for his head, ready to sink into his soft flesh. Sanmaru was rooted to the ground was fear. He couldn't move, his mind shut down, all he could do was to wait for the claw to sink into him and end it.

The claw shot forward, but slowly changed course. It didn't strike him; it flew right past his side. Sanmaru dropped to his knees, his body shaking uncontrollable. He stared at the stump that was once Flymon's arm. Flymon was shrieking again, flailing the arms it still had attached to its body.

"I was wrong." Celena's calm voice said, barely audible over the horrible shrieks of pain. "We humans who already have partners, and have for so long are used to this. We're used to watching battle form the sidelines, forming strategies and plans for our partner." Sanmaru felt her hand on his shoulder. He slowly looked up, seeing the tears falling from Celena's face. "I'm sorry. I went about this the wrong way. When I heard I was the oldest one here, I wanted to watch how you guys would react. But I can see now how stupid that was."

Celena helped Sanaru to his feet as Flymon managed to wrench himself out of the ground. "Rose, Sanmaru, listen to me." Celena spoke, her voice even and steady. "I'm sorry. Cutemon and I have been together a long time; we're used to battling like this. Which is why I should be helping the two of you." She looked to Flamon and Gizmon and smiled. "We have to work as a team. Not as individuals, or as simple partners. We're all a team here, so listen up. I'll be the leader this time."

"Alright." Flamon grumbled, his arms crossed.

"If that is what Rose wishes, then I shall follow your orders Lady Celena." Gizmon agreed, bowing slightly to the girl.

"I'll follow your lead Celena." Rose answered, a small smile on her face.

Sanmaru stared at the redhead, feeling a sense of stability in her. He knew that he could rely on her to show them through this battle. Bringing his arm up, he tried his tears on his sleeves. "I have no idea what's going on, but I can tell that you do. So lead the way Celena."

Celena smiled at everyone before stepping forward. She looked up at Flymon who had calmed down by now. It clearly had no intention of running away now. It was out for blood, and would not stop until every one of them was dead. Celena glared at the bug, her fists clenched.

"Flamon! Gizmon! Cutemon! Let's end this!"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Rain Down My Parade

Entering battle was always a rush of emotion. Adrenaline pumped through your veins, filling you with an almost fidgety sense of anxiousness. Worry and confidence danced in your stomach, both battling for supremacy like you soon would. A strange sense of anger would course through your body, a byproduct of the adrenaline. But it was a good anger, and almost excited on that kept pushing you towards the battle. The thrill was enough to make some people loose it and attack wildly, but Celena had learned to stay calm a long time ago.

The others were depending on her so even if this was just a simulation Celena could not afford to loose. Sanmaru was still trembling in fear, his face a sickly green. He looked so terrified that Celena wondered if he had realized he'd wet himself. Rose on the other hand simply looked stunned. She was stepped further back than Sanmaru and had her arms around herself. She refused to look at the battle before her, instead looking at the ground.

Flamon's tail was lashing with anger and excitement. His fists were clenched, his knees bent as he prepared to lunge. Gizmon was still, his eye glowing red with charged energy. His emotions were illegible, no face to show them with. And Cutemon had a smile on its face as always. Celena knew exactly what was running through the little pink rabbit's. A mischievous sense of excitement. There was no fear for Cutemon, because the bunny was far too powerful to feel it.

"Let's go!" Celena cried, waving her arm out. "Cutemon, you're the medic! Use your powers to clean these two up!"

"Kizunaol kyu~!" Cutemon cried as its tiny hands glowed pink. The glow became a large aura that surrounded the three digimon. Gizmon looked down in surprise, his wires somehow rebuilding themselves. Meanwhile, Flamon stared at his scratches and cuts as they too closed up. The two digimon were filled with a warm, fuzzy feeling like snuggling under a warm blanket after walking through the freezing snow.

"Alright!" Flamon cried, feeling better than he had when the battle began. "I'm all fired up now!" His hands and feet burst into flames, and his flame-like tail latterly burst into a crackling fire. "Let's go you over sized bumble bee!" He roared as he shot into the air. He appeared above Flymon, who shrieked as he delivered a powerful punch to its head. "Baby Salamander!" He howled as the flames exploded, sending the massive bug hurtling towards the ground.

"Now Gizmon!" Celena ordered.

"Understood!" Gizmon agrred, spreading his legs out wide. His eye narrowed as he made a red cursor appear on Flymon's chest. It locked into place as the words "Locked On" appeared in his eye. "Gizmo Laser!" he declared, firing the thin red beam just as Flymon hit the ground. Flymon shrieked in pain as the laser tore through its arm and struck its chest, exactly where Gizmon had aimed.

"Flame Tail!" Flamon roared as he flipped through the air. All of the fire collected on his tail, becoming a massive wave of fire. He flipped down, slamming the massive bug further into the ground and burning its front with the intense flames. Flymon let out one more roar before falling still, Flamon landing between Gizmon and Cutemon. "Victory!" he declared, giving the V-sign to Flymon's charred corpse.

"Unbelievable!" Rose declared, her calm façade broken to reveal a look of surprise. "I've never heard Gizmon obey anyone but me!"

'She led them so well.' Sanmaru thought, staring at the smoking insect. 'I completely shut down but she stayed calm the whole time. But more than that, she made a plan that fit each of the digimon's strengths. She knew Flamon would fly off the handle, so she let him. But she was already preparing the final blow.'

Sanmaru was pulled out of his awe and reverence by a strange noise. It was like a loud beeping noise. Celena looked around, obviously confused by it as well. She looked to Gizmon, but he gave a bizarre four-legged shrug. Flamon's ears were twitching with annoyance as the beep continued, and though Rose had reverted to her calm self she did have a single, perfectly waxed eyebrow raised in curiosity.

"Is this normal?" Sanmaru wondered aloud.

"The look on your face says its not." Rose assessed.

Celena opened her mouth to answer before a voice echoed through the forest. "Attention denizens of room…" The voice paused, as if checking something. "D17. You've been chosen by yours truly to be my guinea pigs! Good for you! I'm going to have a little fun and up the difficulty level. Do me a favor and last more than a few seconds. Hacking into here was a pain in the ass, but I'm a super genius so obviously I could do it.

"Hack in!" Gizmon cried. "That's impossible; I already tried that and got kicked out by their security!"

"Well duh." The voice tauntingly remarked. "But that's because you're…well you're you. And I'm me. Of course I'd succeed where you would fail. It's a given. Now let me see here. You're fighting a Flymon huh? And on the lowest difficulty too, how boring! Well let me just alter these files here, a little click and dragging there and…"

Flymon was covered by a massive pillar of light. Everyone's eyes were glued to the scene Flymon's skin exploded to reveal the green mesh of lines containing the data within him. Flymon let out an unearthly shriek as the shards whirled around, combining with the pillar of light to form a large black ball. It descended, entering Flymon's body which went completely rigid. An inky black darkness formed over the bug's data "skeleton". Slowly the bug floated into the air, churning and twisting as its missing limb grew back. Its wings extended, forming six thin wings. Its claws shot out with a sickening crunch noise. Scissor like claws formed on the end of the wings as it landed on its four hind legs.

The massive beast let out a loud roar, shaking off the rest of the black goo. "Get ready!" Celena ordered. "We just have to wait it out until help arrives! It's a perfect level digimon called Okuwamon, there's no way we can win! Cutemon, standby for immediate healing! Gizmon, use your lasers to try blinding it!"

"How!" The purple robot cried, slowly backing away from the bug. "All it has is red markings on its face, I can't see any eyes!"

"Then hit the face!" Celena roared back angrily, her fists clenched. Things were bad. Flamon looked about ready to fly at the big again. He obviously didn't understand the power a Perfect level had. Gizmon was right to be afraid, but he was freaking out a little too much. Granted she couldn't really blame him. Things were falling apart. Flymon had been easy to take care of, he was about ready to collapse anyway. But a fresh Okuwamon was a very different story. "Dammit!" she cried angrily, stamping her boot in the ground.

That seemed to be Okuwamon's signal, as he lunged forward with his two scissor claws outstretched. Flamon launched himself at the bug, surrounding his body in fire as he tackled its chest. To his surprised horror, he never made it to Okuwamon's chest. The bug's claws shot out, grabbing him in midair. He gasped, feeling the claw immediately squeeze his chest. The air was squeezed out of his body as the big squeezed harder and harder. He weakly pounded against the claw with his fist, but Okuwamon made no sign of letting go.

"Gizmon hit its claw!" Celena ordered frantically, looking to the panicking machine. He and Rose were both huddled up against a tree, Gizmon blubbering and muttering to himself incoherently. Rose had her arms around him, her eyes shut tight with a calm look on her face. Sanmaru was rooted to where he was standing, too stunned to move at all. "Cutemon!" Celena cried, turning to her partner instead.

"Right!" the rabbit cheered. Its ears began glowing bright pink before declaring "Hypersonic Wave!" A massive pink shockwave blasted out from Cutemon's ears, striking the big bug's claw. Okuwamon dropped Flamon, turning to Cutemon instead. The move that had torn through Flymon's arm now served as a mere annoyance to Okuwamon. The monstrous insect let out an angry hissing noise, not unlike a cockroach.

"Kyu?" the little rabbit wondered aloud.

"Run!" Celena roared as Okluwamon dived for the rabbit. His large mandibles stretched out, the ends glowing as he made for the small rabbit snack. Cutemon's eyes widened before trying to run, but Okuwamon's wide pincers caught the little rabbit with ease. Bringing the trapped rabbit up, Okuwamon let out a loud bellowing laugh. Cutemon shrieked in pain as the mandibles squeezed him tight. Its ears glowed again, letting out a pink shockwave at the bug's face, but again he ignored it.

Flamon forced himself up before flinging himself at Okuwamon. He punched at its leg fiercely but Okuwamon merely kicked him aside. Celena fell to her knees, tears in her eyes as she watched Okuwamon torture her partner. "Leave him alone!" she begged, tears falling down her pale cheeks. "Please, leave him alone!" she sobbed desperately before breaking down completely.

"No tears LeBlanc. You're the leader, so you have to stand tall no matter what."

Celena looked up, seeing Averia stand beside her through her blurry, tear filled eyes. "When you give up hope, it means the enemy has won." She said sternly. "You can't let that happen, no matter what. Without hope a soldier can't fight on. So stand up LeBlanc!" Averia's hand shot out, fixing around Celena's arm and forcing her up. The two girls looked to Okuwamon as his massive mandibles were cut in two by a massive black blade.

DarkKnightmon appeared, holding his massive black scythe in his right hand and Cutemon in his left. He landed gently on the ground before the two girls, handing Cutemon to Celena. "First the Troopmon and now this? Not too bad though I guess since this is our first screw up in six years."

"Enough talk. Finish it." Averia ordered.

"Yes, my mistress." He answered, his scythe glowing. It formed a massive blood red lance which he pointed at Okuwamon. The beetle roared back, his claws glowing and letting loose several blades of energy. They sliced through the air, but were dispelled with a single wave of DarkKnightmon's hand. The knight flew into the air, nothing but a black blur. His lance glowed bright red, expanding to twice its size as he swung it down. "Descending Lost Star." He sighed calmly as the aura expanded to his body.

He was untraceable by a human's eyes. One second he was hovering in the air, the next he had torn through the center of the bug and had landed on the ground under him. Okuwamon turned pure black, red spider web like cracks forming over it. It exploded into a storm of black bits and red mist, which all swirled through the air and into DarkKnightmon's lance. "Nothing but a false shadow." He commented.

"Unbelievable." Celena whispered in awe, hugging Cutemon close.

"Not bad." Averia commented as she walked toward her partner.

"But of course." DarkKnightmon chuckled. "A knight who can't break through a reinforced door, save a pink bunny, and defeat a massive corrupted bug in one fell swoop isn't worth his salt." He turned to the teens and digimon, a look of worry flashing through his eyes. "Are you all alright? Averia, stay here to explain the situation to the headmistress. I'll escort Flamon, Cutemon, and Celena to the infirmary. The rest of you are free to go back to your rooms."

"Are you sure?" Sanmaru spoke up, his voice still shaky. "Is it okay to leave?"

DarkKnightmon stepped forward, his voice full of kindness as he said, "I'll escort you to your dorm personally, after we drop these three off if that will make you feel better. Okay?" Sanmaru nodded silently as everyone prepared to leave. Rose coaxed her frightened partner out of hiding while Celena helped Flamon to stand and limp out of the room. DarkKnightmon carried Cutemon in his hand, his scythe having returned to its dormant state. "Follow me." He said gently, guiding the children out of the room and building.

"I was pretty worried." DarkKnightmon admitted as he led everyone out of the building. "Averia, our assistants, and I hang out in a room full computer screens so we can monitor all of what's going on in the individual rooms. See the simulators work by recording battle data from other digimon, like Flymon. Then we create a virtual world and enemy for you to fight and train against. Doing so is very easy here, since we're in the digital world. It's almost like copying and pasting something into a new area."

"But someone hacked in." Celena commented quietly. Flamon pushed off of her, forcing himself to walk on his own. Celena tried to help him, but he weakly pushed her off and trudged forward.

"Well yes." DarkKnightmon agreed. "Same as those Troopmon earlier. Oh, and the student that was attacked is doing fine. Her arm was bandaged up, and it looks like she's got a partner now too. That's the way life works you know? From every bad event comes a great opportunity." He stopped and looked back at the students happily. Their sour and downtrodden looks instantly sapped the happy he was trying to send them. "Uh, right. Well uhm, anyway the same guy that hacked the Troopmon hacked the simulator you were in. He forced Flymon to evolve, ramped up his aggressiveness, and sent him out on you. He sealed you in from the outside and was able to hack the data of the doors themselves and reinforce them, which is why it took so long to bust in there."

"They can do that?" Sanmaru muttered, only half-caring.

"Well ultimately all things in this world are made of data." DarkKnightmon elaborated. "It usually takes a high level digimon to directly affect the world in such a way, but he managed to make a short cut by going through the simulator and then into the door. Its all pretty complicated stuff, I won't bore you with the details. I got in and saved you, that's what counts right?" He turned back to the kids, but again they were in no mood for his joy.

The group remained silent until they arrived at the infirmary. It was a lot like a regular school's infirmary. There was a separate room full of cots form ailing students to rest on, a large office where a nurse was sitting along with shelves of first aid supplies lining the wall, a small portion cut off to act like a waiting room, and a supply closet full extra materials. The tiles, ceiling, and walls were all a very boring shade of eggshell white.

"Seems a little ill-equipped." Sanmaru muttered, wondering what they would do if something serious were to happen.

"We keep all of the heavy duty stuff in the closet." The nurse answered. The nurse was a digimon with dark pink boots, gloves, and a mask. The rest was pure white, but with black eyes and a tiny black nose. He led Flamon and Cutemon into the back room, laying them both down on two cots. Celena followed, poking her head through the door. "Will they be okay?" she asked quietly.

"Oh they should be fine." Bucchiemon answered with his long pink ears each releasing a pink aura over his two patients. Flamon had a disgruntled look on his face, but Cutemon looked pretty relaxed. "There's some minor internal damage but nothing I can't take care of. My feeling powers work a lot like Cutemon's. We can absorb excess digital particles in the air and then use them to repair damage data on a digimon. By my abilities extend beyond that, being able to even affect internal injuries."

"They picked an excellent digimon to be the school nurse." DarkKnightmon agreed, looking in on everyone. "I'll be escorting Sanmaru back to his dorm room. I assume you'll want to wait for Cutemon to finish being treated before leaving?" Celena simply nodded. "Hey now," DarkKnightmon said comfortingly, putting his hand on her shoulder. "No need to look so down. I know how scared you must have been, but it's all over now. Moping over it won't change what happened."

"It's not that." Celena muttered, bringing her right arm up to grab her left arm awkwardly. "I just…" she trailed off, unable to voice her concern. What Averia had said really shook her up. She always prided herself on being smart. She always had a plan to take care of any obstacle in her and Cutemon's way. She didn't handle her plans falling apart too well. But even worse was that she wasn't the only one that time to watch her plan fall apart. Everyone else had put their trust in her, and she let them down. "I let them down." She muttered

Celena gasped in shock as DarkKnightmon pulled her into a hug. "Celena you can't blame yourself!" he cried, pulling her back into the lobby. He turned her around and made her look at the stunned faces of Sanmaru, Rose, and Gizmon. "You three. Tell her you don't blame her for what happened. Tell your leader that you know what happened was all an accident beyond her control and that she did her best."

"Of course." Rose answered quietly. "You had no control over what happened. And you did your best to help us. It's fine."

"Right." Sanmaru agreed lamely.

The two really weren't very convincing, but Celena forced a smile anyway and nodded. "Thanks you guys. Hopefully next time something like this won't happen. But if it does I'll try as hard as I can to keep everyone safe." She smiled at her team, trying as hard as she could to seem confident. Sanmaru nodded to her, while a small smile grew on Rose's face.

"Excellent!" DarkKnightmon chirped. "Well now that I think on it, escorting Rose and Gizmon to their dorm, and then returning for the two boys would be the easiest route."

"Wait." Sanmaru interrupted with a confused look on his face. "Isn't Gizmon a guy? Why would he be in the girl's dorm then?"

"Ah yes, the awkward question of opposite genders in a partnership." DarkKnightmon mused. "Bluntly put, we move in whomever would be the least likely to have some unscrupulous thoughts. In other words, whoever has the lowest chance of being or getting laid. Sometimes this falls on personality, other times maturity, and occasionally which ever is the ugliest."

"Don't objectify me." Gizmon snapped. "I, for the record, have no gender. I identify as male, but I lack your disgusting sex drive. Honestly the whole thing disgusts me. Sliding around on each other, all sweaty and shooting DNA at each other. You organ sacks disgust me."

"So I'm guessing he was put up with Rose because of how ugly he was and his off-putting personality?" Sanmaru commented dryly. He'd normally refrain from saying something like that, but after the day he had it felt good to lash out at something.

"Bite my genocidal purple ass." Gizmon snapped back angrily. DarkKnightmon quickly stepped between the two before Sanmaru could retort.

"Right then. Time to go." He decided, opening the door for Rose. She and Gizmon walked out, leaving Celena and Sanmaru alone. Celena and Sanmaru were left alone in the nurse's office while Bucchiemon continued his treatment of the two digimon.

"So how long have you and Cutemon been partners?" Sanmaru asked curiously. He had already seen a partnership form, but what about those that already existed before coming to the academy? Were some partnerships formed on purpose, or were they all an accident like what he had seen?

"There's really not much of a story to it." Celena said with a shrug. "I was riding home form school on my bike. It started raining a little bit, but nothing too bad. I sped up so I could get home before the weather got too bad. But then out of nowhere there was this huge burst of thunder. It wasn't near me or anything, but that sudden, loud noise broke the silence like glass. I jumped in my seat, the tire slid in the mud, and the next thing I know I was landing on my back in a ditch. I was fine if I stayed still, but trying to move sent this horrible pain up my back. The rain was beginning to intensify, and I was really starting to worry. But when I tried to get up again, I was totally fine. All that was left was this light tingly sensation on my back."

"Cutemon healed you." Sanmaru guessed, remembering the rabbit's pink aura.

"Exactly." Celena continued. "I looked up and saw Cutemon standing there, a little smile on its pink face. I offered to take Cutemon out of the rain in exchange for helping me. And the little bunny just sort of moved in after that." Sanmaru looked away awkwardly, making Celena raise an eyebrow. "What?" she asked, wondering what part of her story had garnered such a reaction.

"I can't help but notice you referring to Cutemon as "it"." Sanmaru answered carefully, as if treading on glass.

"Ah yes." Celena chuckled, looking at the wall where Cutemon lay on the other side. "Truth be told, I don't know Cutemon's gender either. Like most digimon all of those parts that could tell are covered up in fur, and whenever I ask all Cutemon does is start laughing insanely. It's really quite creepy actually." Celena added with an uncertain look on her face.

"He's an odd little rabbit." Sanmaru agreed thoughtfully. "And that Flamon guy's a real hothead."

"Yeah." Celena chuckled. "Earlier I figured giving him orders would be pointless, so I just let him fly off the handle. A guy like that is hard to control."

"I'd hate to be his partner." Sanmaru muttered. Flamon was an okay guy, but far too fired up for Sanmaru. No way would they be able to get along. 

"Actually he probably doesn't have one." Celena answered, surprised by Sanmaru's comment. "Once a human and digimon are partnered up their schedules are changed so that they all have the same classes. That way they can work together." Celena frowned as she stared at the boy. He was nice, and maybe it was just what had happened in the simulation building, but he seemed rather dumb. No, dumb wasn't the right word. Maybe more like…oblivious? That sounded like a better word to describe him.

"You and Flamon are kind of alike." She said suddenly, cutting the teen off. He gave her a confused and somewhat angry look as she explained. "You both act before thinking. You asked about Flamon having a partner, but everywhere you've gone today you've seen humans and digimon together, and there's no doubt that you've been told how important the bond between humans and digimon is to the school. So just like how Flamon would attack without thinking, you ask questions without thinking. If you stopped before opening your mouth you could probably answer your own questions."

Sanmaru blinked in shock, his mouth still open a little bit. He had been completely blindsided by the redhead's evaluation. He wanted to be angry at her for making a fool of him, but in all honest she was right. He had been going about everything by asking others questions and for help. He hadn't really stopped and tried thinking anything out for himself. "That was mean." He finally said. "Even if it was true."

"Sorry." Celena answered, though she wasn't too sincere about it. There was no point in beating around the bush. If someone noticed a flaw of hers then she'd be angrier if they tried hiding it or sugar coating it than she would if they just outright told her. But unfortunately not everyone shared this sentiment, and because of her habit of pointing out the flaws of others she didn't have a whole lot of friends. Everyone always called her a bitch or a nerd, or something else. She didn't really care much though; people were entitled to their own opinions.

The two shared an awkward silence before DarkKnightmon returned. Around that time Bucchiemon finished healing the two digimon and allowed them to go. Celena took Cutemon in her arms and bid everyone else farewell, saying that they were fine going back to their dorm alone. She apologized again to Sanmaru, but told him she wouldn't take back what she said. "Just think of it as something to consider." She said before turning and moving down the hallway.

"I heard what you said." Cutemon chirped in Celena's arms. "These things aren't just for healing you know, kyu."

"I'm well aware." Celena answered, wondering where her partner was going with this. "I figured you'd hear me. What of it?"

"Kyu, kyu, kyu." Cutemon hummed thoughtfully. "Celena, are you maybe thinking Sanmaru and Flamon could be partners? It'd make things easier for us in the training rooms."

"I was thinking something along those lines, yeah." Celena answered with a playful smile. "They really are more alike then they might want to admit. What about you? Did you find out anything interesting about Flamon?"

"He's an idiot with daddy issues." Cutemon sighed, a disgruntled look on its face. "So, so, so boring, kyu. He wants to be some great hero so he can step out of his dad's shadow. I stopped listening after a while because it was a total snooze fest."

"Cutemon don't be mean." Celena scolded. "There's a difference between being honest and being plain old mean." She stepped out into the afternoon sun and walked through the courtyard, towards the girl's dorm. She stopped for a moment though and let out a sigh. "This is stupid." She decided before turning and heading back towards the main building. "There's no reason to stay in the dorm all day, especially when this is the first day of the new year. We've got more important things to do than laze around."

"Darn you and your work ethic." Cutemon grumbled, crossing its arms as Celena walked back into the main building. She already had her room number, class, and destination memorized. She had been sure to plan routes in order to get to her classes as quickly as possible, as they were all quite far away form each other. Plus it was just nice being prepared like that. She didn't like it when something unexpected happened, be it getting lost in the school or suddenly being attacked by a glitched out bug. While she was walking the bell sounded and everyone else poured out of their classes. Celena quickly moved forward, rushing up the stairs before the mob behind her got there. She took one more turn and opened the door to her next class.

Celena immediately shrieked as someone tackled into her. She, Cutemon, and whoever had knocked into her all went tumbling to the ground. Celena's bag skidded across the floor, hitting one of the smaller digimon that had been walking by. Celena forced herself up and turned on the one who had run into her. But before she knew it, they were lost amongst the crowd. Celena shook her head in disbelief before picking Cutemon up, but she was knocked over again as a large digimon blew past her. She looked up, seeing the large yellow teddy bear running through the crowd after his partner.

"The nerve of some people." Cutemon huffed angrily as Celena picked her bag up. The two walked into the computer lab, but Celena let out another cry when she saw her collapsed teacher. He was a large purple robot, a sphere with two horns and two long arms. He had brown work gloves on and rows of sharp teeth in his mouth. He was out like a light.

Celena turned to the boy standing over the machine and frowned as he turned to look back. His amber eyes bore into her like daggers. His pale face was set in a stony frown, adding a frightening sharp quietly to what would have otherwise been a smooth, handsome face. He wore the school uniform, but his jacket was draped over his shoulders rather than on his body. "What's going on?" Celena demanded, ignoring her fear of the boy.

"Nothing that concerns you." He answered his voice stunningly smooth. Celena had expected something gruff and angry, but his voice was light and quite calm.

"A teacher has been knocked out!" Celena snapped back. "Yes, I think it does concern me." She turned to see Cutemon already working his magic on the unconscious computer teacher. "What happened?" She asked again.

The boy stared at him for a moment before answering. "I don't know. I came in here and found Monzaemon and his partner standing over Giromon. They panicked and rushed out of the room, leaving me behind. That's when you came in."

"Stay here." Celena ordered before going to find another teacher. She found Agumon Hakase close by and brought him back to the room. By now the other students had gathered and had begun gossiping over what had happened. Celena explained the situation to the reptilian professor, who frowned as he assessed everything.

"Oh dear, most troubling." Agumon Hakase murmured. "Poor Giromon. Well first things first. We need to get Giromon to the infirmary, inform the headmistress, and track down Monzaemon to hear what happened." He enlisted the aid of a few of the stronger digimon in order to help the heavy machine to the infirmary before calling for the headmistress. He then directed the students to an empty classroom where he watched over them until his boss arrived. All the while Celena watched the snowy-haired boy, still suspicious of his involvement.

Before Celena could really confront the boy though, there was a loud bang on the door. Agumon Hakase motioned for her, Cutemon, and the boy to come with him. He lead them back to the room and opened the door for them. Standing inside were three people, the large yellow teddy bear named Monzaemon, his small and frail partner Chikamatsu, and the headmistress Yosuya.

Chikamatsu was a tiny boy, smaller than most of the kids his age. Though he was physically tiny and weak, he was a third year student and very smart form what Celena had heard. He had wispy blonde hair and light blue eyes. His skin had a sickly pale quality to it, and his school uniform hung on him loosely. He was standing beside Monzaemon, a horrified look on his face.

"Tell us what happened please." Agumon Hakase requested.

"We were packing put stuff up when class ended." Monzaemon said his voice as shaky as Chikamatsu's body. "Everyone else had left before us; we're always sort of poking behind. That's when Giromon went crazy!"

"He started laughing madly." Chikamtsu stuttered as he took over for his partner. "He pulled out this huge chainsaw and flew towards us. We had no choice! Monzaemon hit him back and knocked him out. Then this big scary guy walked in," He looked to the white haired boy fearfully who glared back. "And we panicked. We both ran out as fast as possible, and I accidentally rushed into this young girl." He looked to Celena and gave a small smile. "I'm sorry for that too, but I was so scared I wasn't thinking straight."

"Agumon, go make sure Giromon is properly restrained." Yosuya ordered, tapping her high-heeled boot impatiently. Agumon nodded before moving out of the room. Yosuya crossed her arms under her ample bosom, tightly restrained by a red business suit. She had a matching red skirt that went halfway to her knees, and waist long snow white hair. "Damn, not again! First the Troopmon, then the simulation, and now this. I need a freaking drink." She added with a sigh. She turned and left the room, leaving the teens and digimon alone. Chikamatsu and Monzaemon quickly left after that, leaving Celena and Cutemon with the strange boy.

"I should get back. Aniki is waiting." The boy grunted, getting up from the desk he had been sitting on and moving to leave.

"Hey." Celena interrupted, stopping the boy. He looked at her blankly as she continued. "Sorry for snapping earlier. Its been a long day for me." The boy remained silent for a moment before turning back to the door and leaving. Celena let out a disgruntled sigh before grabbing Cutemon and following the boy out.

"God damn, bitch, ass, cunt, fuck!" Yosuya cursed as she stormed into her office. The dragon sitting in the comfy red chair in front of her desk raised an eyebrow but remained silent. "The first day and already shit has hit the fan! We have a hacker!" She roared, unbuttoning her red jacket and tossing it aside. She undid the top button of her white blouse and moved to her bookshelf. She opened one of the cupboards under it and pulled out a bottle of Jack Daniels. She opened it up and took a long swig from the bottle. She slammed the bottle on the desk, the dragon grabbing it with a green claw and drinking a bit as well.

"How's Delta holding up?" Yosuya asked her partner.

"Better than before." Dracomon answered with a shrug. "I talked to him just a bit ago. He was a little out of it, but he should be back to normal soon. Then with him we can figure out who's hacking us and where he's hiding." He took another swig form the bottle before handing it back to Yosuya. "Man oh man, what a first day." The dragon grunted. "I can't believe they got past Delta and into so much stuff. We managed to stop most of the Troopmon by shutting them down, but he still managed to get one of them. Then there was that simulator business, and he even managed to get Giromon."

"Though to be fair he's not exactly stable to begin with." Yosuya chuckled. She pulled a drawer on her desk open and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. She pulled one out, lit it up, and took a long drag. "We gotta keep this all under wraps. If anyone outside of the school finds out then we'll loose a lot of credibility. Not to mention possible lawsuits for endangering the students. Shit! I can't believe all of this! Why oh why couldn't they wait until the second week? As if all of this paperwork wasn't bad enough…"

"Shouldn't you be a little bit more concerned about the students themselves?" Dracomon asked curiously.

"Of course, of course." Yosuya answered. "But so far there's only been two, relatively minor, injuries. So at the moment covering my own ass take precedence."

"It's that self-serving bitchiness that I admire." Dracomon chuckled, taking another drink form the bottle. "So what exactly is our plan then? I suggest we wait for Delta to wake up, then he can do a full systems check and find out where they were hacking in from. Then hopefully we can track them down."

"That's what I was thinking." Yosuya agreed before letting out a sigh. "Why, why, why did I agree to this job?"

"Because human world police have no jurisdiction here and thus they can't chase after you?" Dracomon suggested with a smile. "Or perhaps it's the free alcohol?" Yosuya stuck her tongue out at him, making the dragon laugh. "Well regardless, something keeps making us take the job year after year so we may as well do it right."

"Agreed." Yosuya decided before finishing her cigarette and putting it out in the ash tray on her desk. "Let's go check up on Delta. Then we can track down that hacking bastard and teach him, or her, a lesson."

Sanmaru had collapsed onto his bed after DarkKnightmon brought him back to the dorm. He had covered himself in the soft sheets and quickly fell asleep. He was just too tired to deal with anything else. If he stayed awake then surely his mind would drift back to the SIM building incident. He just wanted to forget the whole thing and be done with it.

Everything had started out horrible. Seeing that massive, horrific insect flying above them. The sharp claws, the poison dripping off of the stinger. But just when he was about to completely break down, Celena pulled him back up. He could rely on her to get them through everything, and she led everyone easily. She was like a pillar of strength that he could lean on, and for a moment there he actually felt like everything would be okay.

And then it all blew up again, and he came face to face with a terrifying monster. This one made Flymon look like a little puppy. There was something about Flymon, something that felt restrained. Like something was holding the massive hornet back. But whatever shackles were around its claws had snapped apart when it evolved. If DarkKnightmon had come when he did, Sanmaru would be dead.

Thankfully Sanmaru didn't dream, if he did he was sure they would be horrible nightmares. A few hours later he woke up. His clothes were all twisted around and clinging to him. Sanmaru forced himself up and looked out the window. The sun wasn't quite setting yet but it would be soon. He looked on the desk, seeing an empty bird cage. Masato and BluePiyomon had come back, classes were over, and Sanmaru was hungry.

Sanmaru refused to think about what had happened, at least until he got some food in his stomach. He walked into the kitchen and looked around. There was a pan by the sink with several lumpy, black, charred things in it. No doubt Flamon had tried cooking again, but whatever it was had been burned too thoroughly to tell what. The kitchen was open to all students, and the refrigerator was periodically restocked. Sanmaru poked his head inside and looked around.

It was filled with loaves of bread, all kinds of cheeses and meats, pitchers of juice and individual bottles of soda. There were several crisp, clean vegetables and fruits, dressing and spreads, a carton of eggs, small cups of yoghurt, and gallon milk which was half empty by now. Sanmaru turned to the freezer and opened it, the cool air hitting him lightly in the face like walking outside on a cold winter morning. There were many boxes full of microwaveable things like chicken nuggets, waffles, mozzarella sticks, and several frozen meats like hamburger patties, ground beef, ground turkey, chicken breasts, and many other pieces of meat.

Sanmaru settled for a sandwich. He pulled out some cheese, bread, ham, and ketchup. He pulled a plate down from the cupboard above the oven and set about making his dinner. He looked up when another boy walked in, the same one that Celena had confronted in the computer lab before. Granted Sanmaru had no knowledge of this, as he had been sleeping all day. He looked up at the white haired boy and gave him a polite nod of acknowledgement, but the boy didn't even look at him. He opened the fridge and pulled open one of the small drawers at the bottom. Rooting through the vegetable he pulled out a plate covered in tin foil. Closing the fridge, he set the plate down and undid the foil to reveal a plate full of delicious looking sushi rolls.

"Where'd you get that?" Sanmaru asked, his sandwich suddenly looking a bit more boring than it had before. The teen turned and looked at him, making Sanmaru flinch.

"I made it." He answered, blankly, Sanmaru surprised by his smooth voice.

"Oh." Sanmaru muttered. He blinked, a thought hitting him. Celena was right! Of course the boy made it, why else would he have hid it for later? But Sanmaru didn't bother thinking about that; he just blurted the question out carelessly. The boy stared at him for moment before turning and leaving. Sanmaru quietly went about finishing his sandwich, contemplating what he had just discovered. "She was right." He muttered to himself, putting the knife in the sink.

Sanmaru turned back to his plate and found Flamon standing before an open refrigerator. A thoroughly disgruntled look was on his face and, remembering the pan full of charred foodstuffs, Sanmaru had a feeling he knew why. Sanmaru tried slipping out, but Flamon stopped him. "Hey." He said, turning to look at the boy. "Can you cook?"

The answer to that was a resounding yes. Not only had Sanmaru learned to bake from his father, but his mother was a chef at a fancy restaurant. So Sanmaru had been learning how to cook since around the time he could walk. However, he did not want to tell Flamon this. Sanmaru had seen what Flamon did to those eggs, and he really didn't want to know what had been in that pan before he tried cooking it. But then Sanmaru remembered something. Flamon had protected him. Even when things went horribly wrong, Flamon still kept fighting in order to protect everyone. To lie and say no in this situation just seemed so…sleazy. "Yeah I can cook a bit." He answered nonchalantly, trying not to raise Flamon's expectations. He was opposed to lying, but that didn't mean he really wanted to teach Flamon.

"Can you teach me then?" Flamon asked, completely oblivious to how much Sanmaru had been hoping to not hear those words.

"I could try I guess." Sanmaru answered with a shrug. Flamon's face lit up before he pulled out a pan from the cupboard beside the oven.

"Sweet!" he cheered. "Let's get cooking then!"

"Right." Sanmaru muttered. "Do you at least know what you want to cook?"

Flamon was silent for a moment, a thoughtful look on his face. He smiled widely as he snapped his fingers. "Tacos!" he declared. "We got shells in the pantry, I saw them earlier. And we should have some more ground beef in the freezer."

"Alright, alright. You preheat the pan while I grab the things." Sanmaru instructed before moving towards the freezer. He pulled out one of the trays of ground beef before turning back to Flamon. Sanmaru frowned when he saw Flamon staring at the pan curiously. "Something wrong?" Sanmaru wondered curiously, that sinking suspicion in his stomach worsening.

"What does preheat mean?" the digimon wondered.

Sanmaru blink before setting the pan on the oven and turning the appropriate switch. "Preheat means you heat it up while gathering stuff, so that the food starts cooking right when it hits the pan. It's a lot easier that way, since it takes out a lot of the waiting."

"Yeah I don't do that." Flamon scoffed. He tore the beef open and dropped the frozen hunk on the pan. "I do this." He said with a smile. Sanmaru leapt back as Flamon let out a thin burst of flames from his mouth. Sanmaru watched in awe as Flamon poured the flames on. Smoke soon began to billow out from the pan as the meat was burned and blackened. Sanmaru tried stopping Flamon, but he was too terrified to get any closer and Flamon seemed to be ignoring his cries. Flamon seemed to be completely focused on cooking. Sanmaru doubted anything could get him to stop.

He was wrong. Sanmaru let out a shrill cry as cold water covered his body. The smoke had triggered the water sprinklers, and the fire alarm was letting out a shrill beeping noise. Cold water rained down on everyone and everything. Flamon looked up, his eyes wide in awe. He looked at the ceiling, obviously confused as to what was happening. Sanmaru on the other hand, new exactly what was happening and had his glaring eyes firmly glued on Flamon.

Several cries of shock were hear din the surrounding rooms. Sanmaru moved to the closest door and opened it. The main room's sprinkler system had also been turned on and was soaking everyone inside of it. Sanmaru quickly shut the door before anyone could see him and Flamon at the oven. He looked towards the door across form him, several other cries of shock and anger sounding out from them.

"Oh crap." He stated, Flamon giving him a weak apologetic smile.

"God damn shit!" Yosuya roared in anger, watching the scene unfold. "First the Troopmon. Then the simulation! Then Giromon! And now this of all things! Argh!" All of the boys had been evacuated from the dorm. Yosuya and Dracomon had arrived shortly after to oversee the clean up. She had several water based digimon using their abilities to extract the water from the buildings and its contents. It was a long, irritating process but it was also the most cost effective. It beat buying replacements for everything, and at least only the first floor had been affected.

"How'd this even happen?" Dracomon wondered aloud. "I thought that each room was self contained by a different smoke detector and water sprayer system thingy. That way stuff didn't happen." Yosuya turned to him and he looked back blearily.

"You're still drunk?" Yosuya asked in shock. "It was only a bottle or two of Jack. Pansy. But regardless, you're right. They are kept that way. This was probably just a malfunction or something, but damn it just had to happen tonight didn't it?"

"Miss." Averia said calmly. Yosuya turned to her and Averia saluted, while DarkKnightmon gave a small wave. "We've evacuated everyone ma'am. Only the first floor ahs been effected. After closer inspection it seems that this was an isolated incident, a simple malfunction. Apparently two similar events happened earlier today, but at those times the sprinklers did not go off. We've got the repairman on standby. He'll come in the moment the clean up has finished."

"Thanks." Yosuya sighed. "I need a freaking drink."

"Ah, so that's why Dracomon has been chasing after his tail." DarkKnightmon assessed, staring at the rapidly spinning dragon.

"Come back!" he cried hurriedly. "I want more cotton candy!" Dracomon promptly spilled over and crashed on the grassy ground. Yosuya rolled her eyes before picking the dragon up and carting him off. "Averia, DarkKnightmon, please see to it that everyone is put in the main lobby and given cots. Things should be all cleaned up tomorrow and we'll move them back in after classes."

"Understood." Averia said, giving another salute.

"Sure thing." DarkKnightmon agreed as Yosuya dragged Dracomon away. DarkKnightmon took over the movement, assuring everyone that their belongings would be perfectly fine. None of the boys were too happy but allowed DarkKnightmon to guide them to the main room where several Troopmon were already setting out the cots. He also had the Troopmon dispense towels and extra uniforms to those that had been caught in the artificial downpour

Sanmaru found Masato and selected one of the cots neat to his. BluePiyomon let out an angry squak. "This is so stupid! Our room is on the second floor, why are we stuck in here?" His talons were clenching and unclenching, tearing through the outer fabric of one of the pillows. "When I find who did this I'm going to do such illegal things to them!"

"Hi guys!" Flamon chirped as he walked over to the three boys.

Sanmaru's eyes narrowed into a glare as Masato stepped forward. "Hello Flamon." He greeted. "If I may ask, what are you doing over here?" He didn't seem mad or upset in the least, despite his soggy uniforms till clinging to his small frame. Everyone was going in small groups to the bathrooms in order to get changed.

Flamon gave another weak smile. "Yeah, about that. Turns out my friends aren't willing to let me in. And even though we aren't actually in our rooms, they're pretty opposed to me being with them. So I was wondering if I could hang out with you guys, and then maybe hang out in your dorm for a few days until my friends calm down?"

"No." Sanmaru snapped.

"Oh come on Sanmaru, don't be like that." Masato scolded lightly. "We have a spare cot, and we have a spare bed in our dorm. So there's no reason to say no, so long as you clear it with one of the teachers."

"Sweet!" Flamon cheered. He hugged Masato closer, a wide smile on his face. "Thanks buddy!"

"Absolutely not!" Sanmaru declared angrily. Things had finally reached their boiling point. The worry and loneliness of a new school, combined with being attacked by a hideous monster in the simulation room, and then the sudden and unexpected shower had broken him. He wanted to lash out at someone, and Flamon was the closest and least likely to peck his eyes out or cry uncontrollably. "You're a jinx is what you are! The SIM building incident, the sprinkler fiasco! Its your fault!"

"Ow…" Flamon muttered, obviously hurt.

"Sanmaru calm down." Masato pleaded, trying to calm his friend down. "I understand that you're upset but you shouldn't take it out on Flamon. It's not right. Just take a deep breath and let's go to the café. Maybe we can get some ice cream or something. All four of us, as friends."

"No, no its fine." Flamon muttered, his ears drooping. "He's right; all of this is my fault. I wanted him to teach me to cook but I got too excited and wouldn't listen to him. I caused this mess."

BluePiyomon's head perked up, his feathers ruffling. "Y-you? You did this? You made my feathers like this? You got us stuck out here?"

"Yeah…" Flamon admitted, looking away sadly. Bad move. If he had been watching BluePiymon he would have seen the blue bird take flight. His talons stretched out and grab his hair. Flamon howled in pain as BluePiyomon ripped into his orange mane, yelling all sorts of horrible obscenities. DarkKnightmon quickly appeared and tried tearing the bird off, but his talons were locked like a vice. Every time DarkKnightmon pulled, the bird brought Flamon's hair with him and made the fire breather scream in pain.

"Let's go get ice cream." Sanmaru sighed. "I need someone to vent to." He turned and walked off, leaving Masato to stare at the three digimon wrestling. He turned back to Sanmaru.

"Wait up!" he cried as he ran off.


End file.
